Art

I
am very pleased to be your child's art teacher. Together, we not only
create art, but we also learn how to appreciate and respond to it,
study places and cultures in time, and make judgments about what
constitutes quality in art. This is nationally known as Discipline
Based Art Education (DBAE).

Philosophy

The
arts are an essential element of education, just like reading,
writing, and arithmetic. Research shows that the arts teach children to
be more tolerant and open, help to promote individuality, bolster
self-confidence, and improve overall academic performance. When we
involve students in artistic problem solving, we invite their
participation as partners in the learning process. Instead of being
told what to think, the visual arts require students to sort out their
own reactions and articulate them through the materials at hand. Their
attention and focus become absorbed into the task so that they learn
from individual reflection, rather than from the outside. They discover
the answers for themselves through their own critical thinking. Such
solutions require higher order thinking, analysis, and judgment, and
students tend to stay on task because they are creating their own work,
not replicating someone else's. Being able to think independently is
the basis of problem solving. It is also an engaging way to learn.

Special Events

Every
student from Kindergarten through the Fourth Grade will showcase their
talents in the Spring Art Fair. Several students will have the
opportunity to have their artwork on display for Wendy's Youth Arts
Month and the Livonia Public School Fine Arts Festival at the Civic
Center Library.

Beyond
the qualities of creativity, self-expression, and communication, art
is a type of work. This is what art has been from the beginning. This
is what art is from childhood to old age. Through art, our students
learn the meaning of joy of work--work done to the best of one's
ability, for its own sake, for the satisfaction of a job well done.
There is a desperate need in our society for a revival of the idea of
good work: work for personal fulfillment; work for social recognition;
work for economic development. Work is one of the noblest expressions
of the human spirit, and art is the visible evidence of work carried to
the highest possible level. Today we hear much about productivity and
workmanship. Both of these ideals are strengthened each time we commit
ourselves to the endeavor of art. We are dedicated to the idea that art
is the best way for every young person to learn the value of work.

Art Means Language

Art is
a language of visual images that everyone must learn to read. In art
classes, we make visual images, and we study images. Increasingly,
these images affect our needs, our daily behavior, our hopes, our
opinions, and our ultimate ideals. That is why the individual who
cannot understand or read images is incompletely educated. Complete
literacy includes the ability to understand, respond to, and talk about
visual images. Therefore, to carry out its total mission, art education
stimulates language--spoken and written--about visual images. As art
teachers we work continuously on the development of critical skills.
This is our way of encouraging linguistic skills. By teaching pupils to
describe, analyze, and interpret visual images, we enhance their powers
of verbal expression. That is no educational frill.

Art Means Values

You
cannot touch art without touching values: values about home and
family, work and play, the individual and society, nature and the
environment, war and peace, beauty and ugliness, violence and love. The
great art of the past and the present deals with these durable human
concerns. As art teachers we do not indoctrinate. But when we study the
art of many lands and peoples, we expose our students to the
expression of a wide range of human values and concerns. We sensitize
students to the fact that values shape all human efforts, and that
visual images can affect their personal value choices. All of them
should be given the opportunity to see how art can express the highest
aspirations of the human spirit. From that foundation we believe they
will be in a better position to choose what is right and good.

As a product of Livonia Public Schools, I had a
wonderful childhood attending Hoover Elementary, Holmes Middle School
and Stevenson High School. I continued my education at Michigan State
University where I received my degree in Art Education. My teaching
certification was earned through Madonna University and I am currently
pursuing my Master's Degree in Education with an additional endorsement
as a reading specialist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. It
has been such a joy to return to my childhood schools to teach. I am
entering this year of teaching with positive energy and enthusiasm.
Throughout my employment at Livonia Public Schools, I have had the
pleasure of teaching at many schools. Each school has provided me with
new friends, talented students, and supportive parents. I look
forward to another wonderful year, full of creativity and imagination!
Please contact me anytime at: jbawulsk@livoniapublicschools.org